Development challenges offer teams the opportunity to involve people with disabilities in the development process from the beginning and to test the assistance systems in a competitive situation prior to the final competition.
Streams of the Cybathlon Challenges were hosted by sports commentator Patrick Winterton, a former Olympic cross-country skier, and co-commentated by experts from ETH Zurich. ETH Zurich is a public research university in Switzerland that initiated the Cybathlon as a nonprofit project.
In the Cybathlon, teams consisting of one or more athletes, called pilots, and an industry or academic technology provider compete in one of eight disciplines:
- Arm prosthesis
- Leg prosthesis
- Exoskeleton
- Assistance robot
- Brain-computer interface
- Wheelchair
- Vision assistance
- Functional electrical stimulation bike
Each race has its own set course complete with obstacles and sitting or standing activities that have been specially designed to test the compatibility of devices with their pilot. Two awards are given for each competition, one for the pilot and one for the technology provider.
The main objectives of the Cybathlon are to deepen relations between individuals with disabilities and the research robotics community, strengthen ties between research in industry and academia, open athletics to individuals who had previously been barred by the rules governing prosthetics in international sport, and allow individuals who might otherwise be unable to compete due to lack of motor control the opportunity to do so.
To watch the competition, visit the Cybathlon YouTube page.
To learn more, visit the Cybathlon website.
